By Jamie
Copyright 2023 by Jamie, all rights reserved
* * * * *Harstons Chapter 5
U6th meeting
The
Upper 6th, fifteen 17 year olds who had known each other for the last 4
years, relaxed as a group once their younger housemates had left. They
were a disparate bunch but got along fine. There were of course strong
friendships and some dislikes but overall, they were a fairly close
knit group as one would expect after having spent so much time together
growing up in their formative years, a band of brothers. The few
comfortable chairs in the hall reserved for them at house meetings were
pulled together in a rough circle.
Philip Davis placed three envelopes on the table in front of him. He looked up and smiled,
"I think we all know there is an upper sixth tradition at the start of
the final year which is passed on from one year to the next but that
apart from its existence it is kept secret so that the actual thing
whatever it is, is unknown to the incoming year , i.e. us.
"When I arrived on Monday I entered the house captain’s room and found
these 3 envelopes on the desk along with a note from Simon Gray (last
year’s house captain) which said here is the house tradition. Three
envelopes marked to be opened in order. Simon’s note ended with a
reminder that the tradition should be kept secret from anyone else in
the house. So, chaps here we are, Upper 6th our final year together. It
should be a good one. Let’s see what it says!
He picked up
the envelope clearly marked with the number 1. He looked around and
then passed it over to Tom Youngman, the Secretary of the House.
“I think our secretary should do the honours, there you go Tom.”
There was silence as he opened the envelope and pulled out a single
piece of paper on which were printed the instructions for the
Tradition. He started to read aloud.
"Barnards House
Tradition. This tradition has been in the House for over 50 years and
is passed from one Upper Sixth group to the next and everyone is asked
to ensure that its secrecy shall be preserved. At the beginning of the
Autumn term when a new Six are installed, a member of the Upper Sixth
will be offered up for punishment to allow the Captain of House to
practice once a full House thrashing.
It is asked that a
member of the Upper Sixth shall volunteer and offer himself up as a
sacrifice and take a full house thrashing bare given by the House
Captain in the presence of the rest of the Upper Sixth. This shall be
carried out at the start of the second week of the term. This sacrifice
will give the house captain the opportunity to practice in private both
the ritual and the punishment so that if needed for real it will be an
effective and serious event. A volunteer is sought and any member of
the Upper 6th including prefects may offer himself up to the group.
There will be a 24 hour time period for someone to volunteer.
The Upper Sixth will convene again after that period where the House
Secretary shall advise whether or not a volunteer has come forward. If
none, he shall open and read out envelope 2 which contains the
instructions for the selection of a member of the group. All the upper
sixth are asked to respect this tradition and abide willingly should he
be so selected.
A boy willing to volunteer should pass a
note to that effect within 24 hours from this notice being read out.
There should be no discussion between the group during this period to
ensure that any volunteer is truly a willing sacrifice.
To
compensate the sacrifice, after the punishment has been given, he shall
in the presence of the group open and read out the contents of envelope
3 which shall bestow on him a reward in recognition of his sacrifice.
The group will meet again 24 hours’ time.
Signed Simon Gray."
There was absolute silence and some amazement amongst the group. Not
even Philip could get his head around it though he felt inwardly a real
thrill at the prospect and opportunity this gave him. A chance to beat
bare one of his contemporaries all in the name of practice!!!
Tom handed the letter back to Philip and said "wow, they kept that a
secret didn’t they, I don’t recall when they did it last year".
Jake Patterson, one of the leading academic lights of the house spoke,
"I remember them all going off for a meeting over in the schoolhouse,
one of them told me they were organising who was going to be in charge
of different house duties etc., perhaps they did it then."
"Yeah I remember that they certainly didn’t do it in here, we’d have heard!"
There was a certain amount of nervous laughter as no one relished being beaten by Davis let alone in front of all his mates.
Davis nodded, "well I get this is all a bit of a shock and I realise it
places all of you in difficult position. I am not going to force anyone
to do this. I think we all need to agree to go ahead, if we are not
unanimous then we knock it on the head. I’m not going to beat anyone
against his will. What do you guys think? "
A lively
discussion followed but there was pretty much agreement that traditions
should be followed, and they took a vote to say both that they should
follow tradition and that they all agreed that whoever was volunteer or
chosen they would abide willingly to the punishment. The vote was
unanimous. A boy would be beaten in 48 hours’ time and in 24 hours time
they would find out who that boy would be."
Philip struggled
to hide his excitement but managed to keep a serious face throughout
whist inwardly he was punching the air, he looked round the room and
wondered if anyone would volunteer and if not what the second envelope
would say.
He stood up and handing the other 2 envelopes to
Tom spoke, "Tom will look after these so I have no dealings in them. I
think we all know Tom well enough he won’t let anyone sneak a look. 24
hours gentlemen then to volunteer, we meet again here tomorrow eve
after dinner at 7. And no talking about it."
And with that they left to go back upstairs and the last one to leave turned off the lights.
Saturday evening
Over
the course of the next 24 hours there was much thinking going on
amongst the Upper 6th about the house tradition and so they gathered at
7 pm on Saturday evening down in the Hall, each person wondering if
anyone had volunteered. They sat down and Tom spoke , “Gents, not a
single member has put their name forward as you might expect to be the
sacrificial lamb. My post box is empty!”
He held the second envelope in his hand but before opening it he spoke,
"Okay guys before opening it I want to confirm that we are all agreed
we will abide by what it says. All of us could end up as the one. Is
anyone opposed? "
They all agreed, and each hoped with a 1
in 14 chance of being selected it wouldn’t be them. Most of them in
chatting about it, assumed it would be probably drawn by lot, say 14
bits of paper, one marked with an x and they would take it in turns to
draw, until the unlucky individual drew out the marked paper, but that
was of course just guesswork. What system had been devised by their
forebears?
Tom opened the envelope and pulled out a single sheet on which the instructions were written.
"In the event that no member of the sixth shall volunteer, we the 1950
Six have agreed that the following shall be selected and allow himself
to be the sacrifice on behalf of his fellows. This brave individual
will be rewarded for his pains. After much debate as to how this
individual shall be chosen including options such as the drawing of
lots, by nomination or by competition, it has been unanimously agreed
that the following person shall be chosen.” Tom paused and let the
tension hang in the air,
“This individual will be the youngest
person in the Upper Sixth and they shall be selected when no volunteer
has been forthcoming. This will ensure in most cases there is an age
gap between the house captain and the volunteer thus replicating as
much as possible the likely scenario of a house thrashing."
As
Youngman read out these words all eyes turned to Casey Carter who
everyone knew was the youngest. He was born in August and was by 2
clear months the baby of the group, the next youngest being born in
June.
He felt shocked at the news as it wasn’t exactly a fair
way to choose. He was kind of lost for words as there was a collective
sigh of relief from the other 13 who now knew they were safe from the
punishment and the likely humiliation that would go with it. He didn’t
know what to say but knew that he couldn’t back out as he had agreed
along with everyone else that they would accept the method chosen.
Tom Youngman looked over at the boy who as well as being the youngest
was also the smallest of their number. He was a popular and very
talkative lad and was liked for his positivity, his fun approach to
life and his willingness to get stuck in even when his lack of size was
clearly a disadvantage. He was used to being marked as different as had
also been as they grew up the last to hit puberty and accentuated by
being the youngest in the group had not started until he was well into
the 4th year. For some time, he had been the boy amongst the young men
and now he was going to be beaten whilst they all watched. He gulped,
looked up stood up and spoke,
"Well, it looks like I’m it
then. Kind of sucks but we all agreed so I won’t argue." he paused,
looked around at his fellows, many relieved, his close friends feeling
sorry, he smiled much to their astonishment, as he added, " can I Tom
in agreeing gain everyone’s agreement that once this is done we have a
debate after to discuss the selection method to one which is fairer
rather than by age."
He sat down. Tom replied, "thanks Casey
for your willingness to go ahead, we all appreciate how hard it must
be. I can see no problems when this is all over that we have a debate.
I’m sure there are many views amongst us all. So, gentlemen, tomorrow
evening this session will be carried out. I have booked the swimming
pool for an hour at 7pm so we can gave a swim except for Andy who will
have to lifeguard. Bring your togs and we will meet there at 7 sharp.
Everyone please remember no discussion of this outside of ourselves we
don’t want our lower sixth to know what awaits them in a years’ time do
we. That’s it. "
The group got up and chatting in small groups wandered out leaving Casey with Tom and Phil.
Phil couldn’t believe his luck; by choosing the youngest it would
indeed be a similar scenario as close as possible to the real thing
after all he was ten months older than Casey, next month he would be 18
whilst Casey had only had his 17th birthday a few weeks ago. Tomorrow
would be a special day.
"I should start by saying thank you
Casey, I know it won’t be easy. I want to make it as realistic as
possible to a house thrashing where a boy is beaten in the presence of
the sixth for whatever crime he has committed. This is how it will
happen.... "
He outlined the plan and Casey quickly realised
that not only would tomorrow be a painful experience but an
embarrassing one too. He would take it stoically and gain respect from
his peers but at what cost only time would tell. After they had
finished talking he left, lost in his own thoughts whilst Phil and Tom
were left with theirs.
"God Phil you are a lucky guy, going to
be fun tomorrow evening. But harsh on little Casey but hey that’s life.
It will be good practice, wonder how long before we have a real bad
boy, bent over naked in front of the whole sixth!"
Phil
smiled somewhat wickedly, "yep know what you mean Tom, maximum pain,
maximum humiliation that’s the order of the day and that’s what keeps
them all in line." He had to adjust himself in his trousers at just the
thought of it, Tom laughed, "getting you hard already Phil" , Phil
blushed a little retorting "and not you? "
"A gentlemen
never tells" smiled Tom fully aware that he was equally excited at the
prospect even though he wouldn’t get to do any beating....